


Outside My Crime Fighting Life

by Reading_Nut_Cassirole



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 05:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15924041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reading_Nut_Cassirole/pseuds/Reading_Nut_Cassirole
Summary: Just a place to write one shots of Dick's life not as Robin.





	1. Spontaneous Oral Report

**Author's Note:**

> Hello peoples
> 
> Robin: What are you going to do to me this time?
> 
> Me: … Where did you come from?
> 
> Robin: Doesn't matter. Just tell me so I can prepare myself for what is to come.
> 
> Me: Well, actually all I'm putting you through this time is a history report.
> 
> Robin: … Really? You mean you aren't gonna tie me up, torture me, or do things that no normal person would do to me?
> 
> Me: … Am I really that bad?
> 
> Robin: You can be.
> 
> Me: Alrighty then. This was an actual paper that I had to write for my history class. My teacher told me that I could write it as a story, and I was so excited about it. So here it is and I hope the report part of it doesn't bore you too much. Also I don't own Young Justice…
> 
> Robin: Thank God!
> 
> Me: *blinks rapidly* thanks :/ I hope you enjoy.

Dick Grayson walked into his first hour History class. He was really tired. You see, Dick Grayson had a secret life. He was also known as Robin, the Boy Wonder, partner to Gotham's Dark Knight, Batman, and in being Batman's partner, there were times that he didn't get a lot of sleep. These past two weeks were a clear example of that. He had done many training sessions with his team, Young Justice, patrolled and fought many villains in Gotham City, been kidnapped for almost a week, spent four days on an undercover mission, all while trying to keep up his grades in school and keeping people from getting suspicious about his alter ego.

Gotham Academy was a private high school for rich kids, and being the son of Billionaire Bruce Wayne, it was no surprise that he went there. Now being adopted into the life of a rich kid, Dick wasn't like most of the kids in his school, snobby and materialistic. In fact, he was kind and considerate, and very smart because he was in high school at age thirteen, but that wasn't always a good thing for him.

As Dick walked into the class room, a wade of paper hit his head. "Oh please, please, Orphan Boy, don't sue me," Randy, one of the school bullies, begged sarcastically, "I was just trying to hit the garbage… oh wait, I did." Randy and a couple of his friends started laughing at his bad joke as Dick just rolled his eyes and sat down at a desk as far away from them as possible.

Just as he sat down, a tall blonde, about twenty-seven, walked into the room. "Good morning, class," she said as she sat down at her desk. Dick overheard a couple of the boys next to him whispering to each other about how good her butt looked. All the boys in the class, including Dick, thought that Miss Selma looked hot, but that's teenage boys for you.

After a few more minutes, the bell rang and the students started getting out their books. "Alright, class, I want you all to come up and hand in your history paper," Miss Selma said.

' _Crap, I knew I was forgetting something,'_  Dick thought as he finally realized that he didn't do his history paper.  _'Bruce is gonna kill me.'_  He slowly sank into his chair hoping the teacher wouldn't realize that he didn't bring a paper up.

Once all the students brought their papers up and sat back down, Miss Selma looked through the papers then looked around the room and stopped her gaze on Dick. "Mr. Grayson, would you come up here please."

Dick nervously got out of his seat and walked slowly to the front of the class. Everybody in the room stared at him as he walked down the aisle, making him feel like he was walking down death row, and it didn't help that Randy was humming the death march quietly as he went by. Dick gave him the best bat glare he could muster.

When he finally made it to the teacher's desk, he stood there, shifting from one foot to the other nervously, not making eye contact with her. "Y-yes, Miss Selma?"

Miss Selma smiled kindly. "Dick, I've noticed that you didn't bring your paper up. Do you have it with you?"

Dick finally made eye contact with her. "Well… I…Uhhh…" He wasn't sure how to explain why he didn't have his paper without revealing his secret. "I thought you said we could do an oral report if we wanted to."

Miss Selma sighed. "No, I said a five page paper that was due today." She thought for a minute before continuing, looking at Dick's pleading face. "However, I'll give you a chance, but I'm going to have to knock it down a letter grade."

Dick relaxed his shoulders and sighed in relief. "Thank you, Miss Selma."

Miss Selma grabbed a notebook out of her desk and then stood beside Dick. "Class, Dick is going to give his report as an oral report. I want you all to pay attention." She then walked to the back of the room and sat at Dick's desk. "Whenever you're ready," she said once she was settled in.

Dick took a deep breath and closed his eyes.  _'Well, here goes everything.'_ When he opened them again, he looked over at his teacher then down on his desk and realized that he needed to get his book so he didn't completely fail. "Uhhh… may I grab my book? I left my notes in them." It was a small white lie, but if he didn't have it he wasn't sure if he'd be able to pull this off.

Miss Selma nodded and Dick walked back to his desk, grabbed the book, and then went back to the front of the room. He opened the book and found the assignment tucked inside. He gave a sigh of relief because he couldn't completely remember what the assignment was about. Once he read through the three questions he was supposed to discuss, he looked up.

"'Should America be an imperialist power?' In my opinion, I think this question is basically asking, 'Should America be the top dog? The main rulers of the world?' Well, if I was living in 1916, this would be my answer, no. You see, I think of imperialism as trying to gain power, and why should America try to rule the world when we have problems here in America? First off, we just got out of a war between ourselves, the Civil War. That war lasted about four or five years against our own people. We couldn't agree with each other on if the slaves should be free or continue to be our slaves. If we couldn't agree on something as small as that, what makes you think we should be telling people around the world what to do? We start wars with our own kind and then we go and complain because someone's not like us. If I was a foreign leader from China or someplace overseas, I wouldn't listen to us. Even though we figured out most of the stuff concerning the Civil War, that doesn't mean that we treat people that aren't like us with respect. We totally disregarded the Native Americans. We pushed them away from their land and stole their resources, and we didn't care at all, and what about those blacks? After the Civil War, people still weren't warmed up to the idea that black people were 'people.' There was a part in here," he said as he opened the book to look through it. After a couple of seconds, he found the right page, "Yes, it talks about how four African-American army regiments, that happened to make up about one-fourth of the invasion force that went to Cuba, were ordered to Florida and as they went eastward by train, crowds cheered until they got to the south. One of the sergeants wrote, 'We were 'niggers' as they called us and treated us with contempt.'" He sat the book down behind him on the teacher's desk with the book still open so he wouldn't lose his spot.  _'Man, it's a good thing I remembered where that was.'_  "Even though they were in our country, we still didn't treat them right.

"But the Civil War and the way we treat people that don't look like us aren't the only things that makes me think that we Americans shouldn't try to be the top dog of the world. I've learned that there were many depressions here in the US, and there was one around 1893 as well. First we get out of a war then we go into a deep depression? He picked his history book and searched for a few seconds until he found the page that talked about the depression of 1893. "Editors of  _Railroad Age_  even commented on this depression, 'It is probably safe to say, that in no civilized country in this century has society been so disorganized as it was in the United States during the first half of 1894.'" He placed the book back down on the desk, again with the book open. "Even they thought America was messed up." He got a few laughs from some of the students, but continued. "Because of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad going bankrupt in the spring of 1893, a chain reaction of several more railroads going bankrupt happened. This caused several businesses to go out of business, which made people lose their jobs. I mean, yeah I understand that it wasn't our fault that these railroads went bankrupt and businesses shut down, but we had things that we couldn't handle here. We don't need to go out and get involved in other problems when we can't even help ourselves. So I say we need to stay in our own country and try to fix the problems we have here before we even think about getting into other country's problems, and definitely not try to be an imperialist power."

Dick looked over to his teacher, but she was busy writing something on her notebook, so he decided to go on to the next question. He picked up the sheet with the assignment on it. "Now, 'should the United States be isolationist or internationalist?' By July of 1941, World War 2 was going on. Now, a lot of us wanted to stay out of the war, and I can see what they mean. Just like I said about becoming an imperialist, we shouldn't get involved in other people's business. I mean, after World War 1 you would think that we would get tired of all the fighting. That and the soldiers brought a deadly influenza epidemic back with them." He picked up his book again and looked through the pages until he found the right page. "'About 20 million Americans fell ill during the winter of 1918-1919; over half a million died.' Half a million, all because our men brought a sickness with them from overseas." This time he just put his finger in the book and closed it then lowered the book to his side. "How many of you would want to worry about whether or not our friends and family brought back something that could kill you?" He waited for a second for their response, and all he got was a "humph" from Randy. He then looked toward Randy. "So you're telling me that if your father went overseas and came back and gave you a deadly disease that we have no idea how to cure, you'd be fine with that?" Randy slowly sunk into his seat and avoided both the question and eye contact. Dick just smiled and returned his gaze to the rest of the class. "I know I sure wouldn't. Plus, like I said before, people didn't want to get involved in another war." He pulled the book up to him and again flipped through the pages. "'Struggling with the economic depression and conscious of the slaughter of World War 1, Americans had little interest in the international experimentation.'" He lowered the book once again.

"See up to this point, the US had been in the Great Depression. People were without work, their wages got cut back, and the people who couldn't pay rents or mortgages were left homeless unless someone was generous enough to help them. A lot of people went to soup kitchens just to get their next meal. People just wanted to stay away from the war and try to get their own lives back in order.

"However, I wouldn't say that we should be pure isolationist. I mean, if we didn't get involved in the war, they probably would've come after us eventually. To me, it sounds like Japan wanted to take over the world, and if that is true, then whether we enter the war or not, Japan was going to come after us. Yes, if we just stay out of it and stay in our little corner of the world we might be fine, but we don't know that. Myself I'd rather stay out of it and only fight if it's absolutely necessary, like I said, I can see good and bad point about being isolationists and internationalists. 'Should the United States be isolationist or internationalist?' Truthfully, I say isolationist. We need to focus on the problems we're having here in the US. I say if we want to get involved in something, get involved with America first."

Dick looked over to his teacher again, hoping that he could find some trace of if he was doing well on his report, but again all he saw was her writing something in her notebook. Dick took a deep breath and proceeded. "The last question I want to touch on is this, 'should the US be the Policeman of the World?' *****  For us the answer is simple, we don't need to because we have the Justice League. We don't have to worry about what's going on in China or Russia, 'cause the League takes care of it. But what if we didn't have them? What if there was no Justice League to save our butts twenty-four seven? Should we still try to be the world's protector? The world's Policemen? Personally, I say no. No one can solve the problems of the world. Sure if you're Superman it'd be easy," this got some laughter from some of the students, "but we're not Superman. We can't stop a meteor from hitting the earth. We can't stop a volcano from destroying a village. We can't cure common diseases like cancer or Lou Gehrig's disease, but yet we still try. We try to keep people from dying, but it's out of our hands. Not even Superman can save everyone." One of the girls raised her hand. Dick looked at her a bit confused and surprised that she did. "Uhhh… yes?"

"It's just like Batman. He managed to save a lot of people, but he couldn't save my mom from the fire a couple weeks ago."

Dick looked at her sadly. He remembered that night. Bruce came home feeling terrible. "Yeah, even though we think we can protect everyone and save every life, there's just no possible way. The police can send cops to guard someone who's been threatened, but there is no guarantee that the cops won't be killed themselves. So just because we send soldiers over to a war, that doesn't mean those soldiers won't get killed. And what if our side of a war, that we shouldn't have even got involved in, didn't win, all those lives that were lost, they died for nothing. What would we accomplish by doing that? Greif. Telling a parent that their son or daughter will never come home. Telling a child that their mom or dad is gone forever. Telling a husband or wife that their spouse will never be able to hold them again. Yeah, if we need to be in the war 'cause that war could determine if we survived or not, then by all means, let's fight, but to just send people into a war because that country looks like they could use the help? Take the Vietnam War, the government claimed that we could go over there and win the war, but all we did was get good men and women killed." He once again opened the book and flipped until he came across the Vietnam section. "'The young men who fought in Vietnam bore the brunt of a confused mission in an inhospitable environment that defied America's military superiority, while Americans at home questioned the war's importance to U.S. global interest.'" Again he closed the book, making sure to mark it with his finger, and lowered the book to his side. "They sent them over for, what sounds like to me, just because we were cocky and wanted to prove how powerful we were. Well you know what, that war cost us several men's lives and we didn't even win the war." Again one of the students, this time a boy, raised their hand. "Yes, Jimmy?"

"My grandpa was in that war. He came back, but I don't like to think that he could've died for nothing." *****

Dick nodded his head. "I'm glad he came back alive, but most families didn't have that pleasure. However," he again opened his book and flipped a few pages, "'many youths from middle-class families used a liberal student deferment policy to avoid the draft.'" He closed the book again. "The people that were normally drafted ranged around nineteen, but some of them didn't want to go to war 'cause they knew that we shouldn't have gotten into it. And what's worse, they had to deal with diseases like malaria, blackwater fever, and dysentery, and I don't have to tell you that those are some pretty nasty diseases.

"Also, to make another point, look at the justice system here in Gotham, our police force. Now I'm not judging them or saying that they aren't doing their job, but how many times has Batman and Robin bailed the commissioner and his team out of something so simple."

"Yeah, just last week Batman had to chase down that lunatic that stole the new dollar bills from the train. The police should've handled that. The guy that took the money was just some common thief, not worth Batman's time, but noooo, they had to call Batman 'cause someone stepped on their toes," James, another boy in the class, remarked.

"Yeah, Batman could've been tracking down the Joker who had escaped a few days prior, but that's exactly what I'm talking about," Dick agreed. "Our justice system here in Gotham has gotten so dependent on Batman, but if we didn't have Batman, Superman, or any of the other Leaguers, we would be stronger, more dependent on ourselves, and that's exactly what I think was going through the government's head, that we are strong enough to take on the world. We're clearly not and we shouldn't think of ourselves as the policemen of the world.

"So to some it all up, in the time of 1916, no, we shouldn't be an imperialist power, in the time of July of 1941, I think we should be isolationists unless absolutely necessary, and in the time after World War 2, the US should not be the Policemen of the world."

The entire class clapped for his presentation as the Miss Selma walked back up front. "Very good report, Dick, although next time you better get the actual report done."

Dick blushed a little. "Yes, Miss Selma." He then went and sat back down at his desk. Dick let out a long breath.  _'Well, at least she bought that I knew what I was doing.'_

"Alright class, now I want you to open your books to page 1203."

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

Dick walked into the front door of the Wayne Mansion, walked over to the couch, flopped down on the couch, and closed his eyes. Bruce was sitting in the arm chair reading the newspaper since he didn't get a chance to during breakfast. He lowered the paper so he could see Dick. "How was school?"

Dick looked at Bruce. "Great, except for the fact that I didn't turn in my five page paper that was due today in history."

"Dick," Bruce said not too happily.

"It's ok, I gave an oral report on it anyway and she said I did pretty well."

"And why didn't you get the paper done?" Bruce asked as he folded and set the paper down on the coffee table.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault. I had training, missions, and I was kidnapped for about a week. What was I supposed to do, tell the kidnappers to just let me go 'cause I had a history paper to work on?"

Bruce sighed. "Alright, but you're grounded from patrol until you find out what your grade is."

Dick smiled. "I figured you'd say something like that. Wanna help me on my Math homework?"

Bruce smiled then moved over to the couch as Dick pulled out his Math book and notebook.


	2. The Debate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone.
> 
> Robin: *sighs* What's it about this time?
> 
> Me: Well, I had to do another paper, and my teacher said I could do it as a story and...
> 
> Robin: Is it the same teacher?
> 
> Me: No, this time it's my ethics paper.
> 
> Robin: Oh.
> 
> Me: Yeah, so anyway here's the summary: Dick has to do an argument with another classmate for English to try and persuade a third classmate to take his side.
> 
> Robin: Great, now I have to argue about something with someone? What am I arguing?
> 
> Me: Sorry, that would spoil the story.
> 
> Robin: Come on, I won't tell them.
> 
> Me: Nope. You're just gonna have to figure it out with the rest of them.
> 
> Robin: I'm so glad you don't own Young Justice or me.
> 
> Me: And why's that?
> 
> Robin: Because then I would always be looking over my shoulder waiting for some horrible fate coming for me.
> 
> Me: You're so overly dramatic. *to readers* Well, I kind of felt a little akward writing this, but it was a must for school. I hope you all enjoy it.
> 
> Robin: Wait, you felt awkward writing it... Joy. I know I'm gonna hate this story.

Dick Grayson walked into his sixth hour English class and saw Bethanie and Crystal talking by their desks. He smiled as he walked up to them. "Hey, you guys ready for our debate?"

"Is anyone ever ready to make a speech?" Bethanie asked clearly not looking forward to the debate.

"Yeah, not even Bruce likes giving speeches," Dick replied.

"You know, it's not really a speech," Crystal said.

"Yeah it is. It's basically a persuasive speech because we're trying to convince you to take one of our sides. We're just doing one side of the argument each," Dick replied.

"Oh, ok. So do you have your side figured out, Dick? Bethanie said she's found excellent points," Crystal asked.

Bethanie smiled. "Yeah, so you better have a good argument to back you up."

Dick smiled. "Don't worry. I found some good points, too." He then looked to Crystal. "Do you have points on both sides so you can back one of us up?"

"Well, Mrs. Branson told me that I would mostly be going off what both of you say, so I didn't really have to research that much," Crystal replied.

"Well, then I guess we better have good arguments," Bethanie told Dick.

"All right, class, let's find our seats," Mrs. Branson said. As all the kids made their way to their seats, Mrs. Branson opened her notebook and looked at the names of the kids who were supposed to speak. "All right, Dick, Bethanie, and Crystal, you guys are up first."

Dick and Bethanie gathered up the notes they found and followed Crystal up to the front of the room.

"Ok, so who's starting?" Bethanie asked Dick.

"I'm starting," Mrs. Branson said.

All three of them looked at the teacher. "Right, sorry," Bethanie apologized.

"You said something about giving us a scenario?" Crystal asked.

"Yes," Mrs. Branson said. "Crystal, you will be the girl in the scenario that Dick and Bethanie have to try and persuade."

"Ok," they all replied at once.

Mrs. Branson pulled a chair over and placed it in between two of the front desks. "Here's your seat," she told Crystal then turned to Dick and Bethanie. "You are trying to convince Crystal to take one of your sides. Here's your scenario. Crystal was raped by an unknown man and became pregnant. She's only sixteen and doesn't have a job. She's not entirely sure whether or not to keep the baby or abort it." She then turned back to Crystal, who was now sitting in the chair between the desks. "Your only job is to listen to both sides and then choose a side. You must then explain why you chose that side. Does everyone understand?"

All three of them nodded and Mrs. Branson took her seat at her desk. "So, who's going first?" Bethanie asked Dick.

"Lady's first," he replied with a sly smile then leaned up against Mrs. Branson's desk.

"Thanks," Bethanie replied sarcastically then turned to Crystal. "I feel really bad about what happened to you, and I think you should consider aborting the child." She looked down at the paper in her hand then back at Crystal. "I believe that women have the right to choose because it is their body. You didn't ask for this to happen to you, and I don't see why you would want to keep a child that you didn't ask for. Babies are expensive with all the dipers, food, clothes, and many other things they need. I mean, you're only sixteen and you don't even have a job, so that would mean your parents would have to pay for everything. I'm pretty sure that they don't want to have another person to take care of. You're not ready for a child yet 'cause you're still a child yourself, and I'm sure you're scared of the idea that you would be totally responsible for someone so small, am I right?" Crystal nodded. "So, why would you want a child of the person that violated you? I say the best thing for you to do is abort the baby and go on with your life." She then turned around and walked back toward Mrs. Branson's desk as Dick walked toward Crystal. "Beat that," she said quietly as they past each other.

Dick stopped right in front of Crystal, looked at his paper, and then looked back up. "I'm sorry too about what happened to you, but I think you should approach this in a different way. Yeah you probably don't want anything to do with the baby, but that doesn't mean you have to kill an innocent life." He looked down at his paper. "Unborn babies are innocent human beings from the moment of conception." He looked back up to Crystal. "Most people believe that unborn babies are just a bunch of cells, but I've heard that a baby's heartbeat can be heard at three weeks. That doesn't sound like a bunch of cells to me. Instead of just killing the child, why not give it up for adoption? There are some people in this world that can't have children of their own and would love to take in a child to love as their own, and some people just want to expand their family. Just because someone comes and violates you doesn't mean you have to kill, they baby didn't do anything. Don't hate the child, if you don't want it; let another family take it in."

"Sure, there may be people like that, but why should she have to endure all the pain and discomfort for a life that isn't even born yet? She doesn't even want the child," Bethanie said then turned to Crystal. "There are two ways to have an abortion, in-clinic abortion and the morning after pill. Both of these ways are safe and effective. There are three steps to taking the morning after pill, the abortion pill, misoprostol, and a follow up. Most people are more comfortable with the morning after pill because it's basically like miscarrying, so it's more natural. Take a few medications then do a follow up within two weeks to make sure it worked and that's it. It's so easy, but on the slight chance it doesn't work, you got the in-clinic abortion. There are two different in-clinic abortions, aspiration abortion, which is the most common, and D&E or dilation and evacuation. During aspiration abortion, they use a hand-held suction device or a suction machine to gently empty the uterus, and during D&E, they medical instruments and a suction machine. Both of these procedures can take anywhere from ten to twenty minutes, possibly more, but they also give you a sedative or an IV to help with the pain and make it not so bad."

"Ok, that is just disgusting," Dick said a bit horrified. "Are you saying that they just suck the babies out of you and you're wide awake during it all?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much all it is," Bethanie said smiling.

The others in the class, including Crystal, all looked disgusted looks and some even looked like they could get sick. "Like I said, disgusting," Dick said then glanced at his paper again before turning back to Crystal. "Everything she said may not sound that bad, but what she failed to mention is the problems these procedures could cause. You could get an allergic reaction to the medication, an incomplete abortion, which could leave part of the pregnancy inside the uterus, a failure to end the pregnancy, which was your whole goal, infection, very heavy bleeding, and undetected ectopic pregnancy, which means," he looks down at his paper, "the abnormal development of a fertilized egg outside the cavity of the uterus, usually within a Fallopian tube." He put his paper down to his side. "That sounds like it would really be painful, and each of these also have one possible risk. For the abortion pill you could get blood clots in the uterus, and for the in-clinic ways you could get injury to the cervix or other organs. And on top of all that, you have the risk of sterility, cervical damage, and pregnancy loss like miscarriages as well as premature births, complications of labor, and abnormal development of the placenta. Now I don't see why any girl would want to go through that. With adoption, you don't have to worry about any risks, problems, or side effects and you get to help others be happy."

"Yeah, but with adoption is not all roses and sunshine either. There are so many sickoes in this world that would adopt a kid just to abuse them, use them, or that do it because they can get money out of it. You also have the problem of those kids feeling a sense of lose, abandonment, grief, and guilt. The birth parents gave them up, they didn't want them. How do you think that will make the kid feel when they become old enough to understand that kind of thing." Dick tried to reply but Bethanie didn't give him a chance. "And not all families are the kind hearted people that we all want to believe they are. Plus you also have to worry 'bout the kids feeling angry, numb, depressed, anxiety, or fear, which are normal feelings for a kid in this position. You should know that from personal experiences."

Dick balled up his fists, but managed to keep his anger at bay. "My parents were killed by a psycho and I was lucky to have Bruce to take me in, which is why adoption is a good thing. If Bruce didn't take me in, I may have ended up with someone who didn't care for me or I could've ended up staying there 'til I was old enough to take care of myself and felt like nobody cared about me. Orphanages don't just send the kids away anyway. They make sure that you're getting sent to a good home. Anyway, we're talking about a new born baby. The younger the kids are, the better chance they have at getting adopted, so her baby may get adopted as soon as it's born, a few days afterwards, or a few weeks. Adoption can make the kids feel like even though your birth parents didn't care for you, you are still loved by the people that did take you in."

"Ok, fine, but wouldn't you think it would pain her if she ever saw the child again. The child was a result of a very traumatic event in her life."

"That may be, but they don't have to meet. The adopted parents could move to another town, she could move to another town to get away from the town her assaulter lives in, or it could be years until she sees the child again. People change as they get older. She might not recognize the child."

"Yeah, and what are the chances that would really happen?" Bethanie said sarcastically as she crossed her arms. She then turned back to Crystal. "I still think abortions is your only option so that you won't have to worry about ever seeing the child again."

"All right, I think we've heard enough of the two sides," Mrs. Branson said before a fight could break out. She saw how frustrated Dick got when Bethanie started making adoption look like a bad thing. "Crystal, why don't you go ahead and choose the side that you think was most convincing."

Crystal stood up and walked over to Dick and Bethanie. "You guys both had really good points and it's actually a pretty hard decision. The abortion pill would probably be the way I would want to do it if I chose to, but adoption is also a really good option." She looked at both of them and then continued. "I would have to say that I am gonna side with Dick on this one. Life is precious. They always say a baby is a gift, but since the baby is a result of a rape, I just don't think I would be able to love it like I should, so I would give it up for adoption and let a real family love it the way I couldn't. I also thought about the religious side of things as well. Depending on your religion, abortion is a form of killing, and if you follow the Ten Commandments, then you know that killing is a sin. Killing a child, whether it be unborn or a two years old, is still killing, and I don't believe in killing anyone for any reason."

"That was very good. You may have a seat," Mrs. Branson said. As the three returned to their seats, she looked in her notebook and saw the next group to speak. "Ok, Tyler, Paul, and Bonnie, you're up."

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

Dick walked in the door of the mansion and saw Bruce sitting in one of the chairs in the living room reading the paper. He then walked over to the couch and plopped down. "Rough day?" Bruce asked after he put the paper down.

"Sort of," Dick replied with his eyes closed.

Bruce smiled. "So how did your debate go?"

"Ok I guess, but I'm never gonna do another argument with Bethanie again."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Because," he began as he sat up and looked at Bruce, "she brings up points about your life that can be very hurtful."

"What did she say?" Bruce asked a little worried.

"Well you know that our debate was over the abortion choice, right?" Bruce nodded. "Well, when I brought up the adoption choice, she totally made it sound as bad as abortion."

Bruce sighed. "She was just trying to defend her side of the argument."

"Yeah, but she didn't have to say the negative emotions like the feeling of loss and abandonment and then say I should understand because of my past experiences."

Bruce felt sorry for him. "Dick, some people don't think about what they say. All you can do is just not think of it and go on."

"I know," Dick said with his head down.

They were quiet for another few minutes before Bruce spoke up. "So, which side did she chose?"

Dick looked back up at him and smiled. "Mine. Evidentially she's pro life."

"Well, at least you won the debate," Bruce said smiling.

"Yeah."

"Come on, I think Alfred made some cookies today. Why don't we forget our stressful with a few?"

Dick smiled wider and stood up and ran to the kitchen. Bruce just shook his head and followed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Robin: ...
> 
> Me: Robin, you ok?
> 
> Robin: ...
> 
> Me: Robin?
> 
> Robin: ...
> 
> Me: Ok, well I guess...
> 
> Robin: I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU MADE ME TALK ABOUT THAT! I'M ONLY 13! I'M TOO YOUNG TO KNOW ABOUT THAT STUFF!
> 
> Me: Hey, stop yelling. I told you I felt a little akward writing it.
> 
> Batgirl: Oh chill, Robin.
> 
> Me: Hey Batgirl.
> 
> Batgirl: Hey. I heard yelling and I just wanted to know what was going on. You even got an eyebrow raise from Batman.
> 
> Me: I made Robin have and argument over abortion.
> 
> Batgirl: *laughing*
> 
> Robin: *crossing his arms* Hey, it's not funny.
> 
> Batgirl: *still laughing a bit* Are you kidding? I would've killed to hear that.
> 
> Robin: *blushes* I'm outta here. *leaves*
> 
> Batgirl: *high fives me* Good job. I'm gonna go read this now.
> 
> Me: Thanks. *to readers* Well, Robin hated it, Batgirl's going to read it, what did you think of it? Let me know in a comment.


	3. Beat the Bushes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone.
> 
> Robin: What are you doing here? You just put a story up.
> 
> Me: Yeah, so? I'm trying to put these stories up as soon as I can.
> 
> Robin: You have to wait at least a couple days before you post another one.
> 
> Me: Whatever. *to readers* Ok, so before I start, I want to just say...
> 
> Robin: What horrifying paper are you doing now?
> 
> Me: I'm not doing a paper this time... I don't only post papers to this story. It's just a bunch of one shots about you not being Robin.
> 
> Robin: Ok, then what horrifying story do you have planned for me this time?
> 
> Me: It's not horrifying. Sheesh, you worry too much.
> 
> Robin: Well?
> 
> Me: Fine. 'Bruce realized that Dick was putting off a project so he said "Go out and beat the bushes"... so he did.'
> 
> Robin: Beat the bushes?
> 
> Me: Yes, and I was about to explain it when you so rudely interupted me. Now, I will say that the credit for this story belongs to my dad and uncle. My dad told me that I needed to go out and beat the bushes to find a job. Not really sure why, but whatever. Well, after that, my uncle said "Yeah, go out and beat the bushes." That's when I thought of this story.
> 
> Robin: How did I beat the bushes?
> 
> Me: Well... Oh no you don't. If you want to know, go read the story.
> 
> Robin: ...
> 
> Me: Robin?
> 
> Robin: Shhhhhh, I'm reading.
> 
> Me: Sorry. *to readers* Enjoy and sorry it's not very long. *to the site* I do not own any of the characters just the plot.
> 
> Robin: Shhhhhhhh!
> 
> Me: *whispering* Sorry.

It was just another typical Saturday morning for Dick, stuck at home because he was grounded. He had pulled a prank on the Commissioner two nights ago that wasn't very nice. Now he was bored out of his mind because he couldn't go to the mountain, have friends over, watch TV, or touch his computer. He was even grounded from being Robin for an entire week.

After a few more minutes of just sitting on the couch staring at a blank TV screen, he sighed, got up, and went to see if Bruce had anything he could do.  _'I'd even take washing and waxing the Batmobile.'_

He knocked on the study door and walked in when Bruce gave the ok. "Bruce, do you have anything I can do? I'm soooooo bored."

Bruce glanced up from the papers he was reading. "Can't you find something?"

"You won't let me watch TV, touch the computer, let Wally come over, or go to the mountain. What am I supposed to do?" Dick replied.

"What about your homework?"

"I got that done last night while you were out on patrol."

"All of it?" he asked skeptically. "What about your History project?"

Dick looked away from him.  _'Dang it.'_  He'd put off the project for two weeks now and it was due next week. "I… Well…" He wasn't sure how to go on. He really didn't have any good excuses.

Bruce sighed a little annoyed. "Dick, you need to get it done." He went back to his papers. "Now you need to go and beat the bushes."

Dick looked at him very confused.  _'Beat the bushes?'_  "Uhhhh… ok," he replied unsure what that meant. He then turned and left the room.

Bruce looked up as Dick left and just shook his head and tried to concentrate on his work.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

About an hour and a half later, Bruce walked out of his study and saw that Dick wasn't in the living room. He then checked Dick's room, the kitchen, then finally the cave, but he wasn't in any of those places. As he walked back toward Dick's room, he saw Alfred come out of the study and head toward the kitchen. "Alfred, have you seen Dick?" he asked as he walked up to the man.

"No, Sir, not since he was sitting in the living room almost two hours ago. Maybe…"

"Take that!"

Bruce and Alfred turned toward where they thought the sound was coming from, but didn't see anything. Bruce then turned back to Alfred and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he heard it again.

"And that! You won't get away from me!"

They both looked toward the sound again, but still didn't see anyone.

"You won't get me!"

They looked at each other very confused. "That sounded like Master Dick," Alfred said.

They both ran to the front door then to the side of the house where they heard the sound. "Good heavens!" Alfred cried when he saw the sight before him. Bruce just stood there with his eyes wide in surprise.

Dick was standing there holding a baseball bat and was beating the bushes. "Ha, ha. I told you you couldn't get away," Dick said not realizing he now had an audience.

"Master Dick, stop that at once!" Alfred shouted as he quickly walked to the boy.

Dick turned toward them surprised and dropped the bat. Bruce just looked at the demolished bushes and started laughing, which caused Alfred and Dick to look at him curiously. "Master Bruce, this is no laughing matter," Alfred said seriously.

Bruce tried to calm his laughter, but the smile on his face wouldn't budge. "Dick, did you think I actually meant go out and beat the bushes to a pulp?"

Dick looked at him confused. "But that's what you said."

Bruce just laughed again. "I meant you needed to get to work on your project."

Dick smiled and blushed. "Oh," he said completely embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, I guess I misunderstood."

Alfred looked down at Dick then over to his bushes sadly. "It'll take hours to get these back to a decent looking shape."

"Well, Dick said still feeling bad about what he did, "those aren't the only ones like that."

Alfred looked back at the boy horrified then walked off to find that all the bushes around the manor were in similar condition.

Bruce just couldn't keep the smile off his face. "You really did a number on those bushes. What did they do to you?"

Again Dick blushed from embarrassment. "Well, some of them I thought of as regular thugs, others as some of the major villains, and others were just kids that tease me at school."

"And you did all this in an hour and a half?" Bruce asked slightly impressed.

"Yep," Dick said now smiling.

"Master Bruce, I do not appreciate you encouraging him like this," Alfred said sternly then turned to Dick. "As for you young man, you, and Master Bruce," he said as he looked to the now shocked man, "will be tending to these bushes under my watchful eye until they look decent again. Do you understand?" he then asked both of them.

"Yes, Sir," they both dejectedly said at once.

"Good. Now, I will go get the tools for you to start right away," he told them as he walked off.

As soon as Alfred was out of sight, Bruce and Dick both looked at each other and smiled. "Guess we're both grounded for the night, huh?" Dick said.

"Guess so, but that doesn't mean you get out of working on your project. After we finish up here, I'll help you get it done."

"Really?" Dick asked excited.

"Really." They were both quiet until Bruce looked over at the bushes and chuckled again. "I still can't believe you actually beat the bushes."

Dick just smiled. "Hey, it was fun, and I got some anger out too."

"Maybe I'll try it some time."

"Only if I can join you, and only if they aren't Alfred's bushes again," Dick replied. Bruce just chuckled again.

Alfred came back a few moments later with the tools and handed them to the two 'boys'. "Well, we better get started," Bruce said.

They both got to work on fixing up the bushes while Alfred stood there with his arms crossed watching them like a hawk. "And I hope you learned your lesson, Master Dick, and won't take things so literally next time."

"Yeah, I'll never go around beating the bushes again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *to Robin* Well, what did you think?
> 
> Robin: It was good I guess.
> 
> Me: *rolls eyes* Boys. *to readers* What did you think of it? Let me know.


	4. Graduations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey guys, I'm back
> 
> Robin: Dang it.
> 
> Me: Oh hi Robin.
> 
> Robin: What are you doing to me this time?
> 
> Me: It's another school report.
> 
> Robin: What class this time? *crosses arms*
> 
> Me: American Government. Dick has to choose a topic that the state or local government could solve and his possible solution to it.
> 
> Robin: Should be easy for me. I'll just go ask Bruce...
> 
> Me: Sorry, I chose the topic for you.
> 
> Robin: ... Ok, fine. What is it?
> 
> Me: Well obviously it's over graduations. That is what the title of this story is.
> 
> Robin: *rolls eyes* Yeah, but what about the graduations.
> 
> Me: Guess you'll just have to read it.
> 
> Robin: ...
> 
> Me: Alrighty then. I don't own YJ or Robin or anything dc related. Hope you guys enjoy it.
> 
> Robin: Will you be quiet so i can read?
> 
> Me: Sorry.

Dick Grayson sat at the lunch table trying to finish up the last of his lunch as he read through his notes for the next class. As he took the last bite of his sandwich, Barbra Gordon walked up to his table and sat down in the chair across from him. "I can't wait to hear what subject you decided to do your report over," she said smiling.

Dick looked up at her a bit annoyed. "Oh yeah? Well, you're just gonna have to wait until next period."

Barbra slumped back in her seat and crossed her arms. "I hate having American Government right after lunch. I'm always so tired and don't want to do anything or pay attention to the teacher."

"I think we all get that way, but I find the class really interesting," Dick replied as he put his notes back in his folder.

"You think every class you have is interesting," Barbra said.

"Not every class," Dick said. Before Barbra could speak again, the bell rang. "Well, come on. I'd like to hear what you decided to do your report over, too." Both Dick and Barbra then stood up and headed out of the cafeteria.

By the time the second bell rang, Dick and Barbra found their seats in the classroom and Miss Selma shut the door. "Alright class, quiet down so we can begin. Now, Friday I gave you all an assignment to pick a concern or problem at the state or local level that you believe is proper for the state or local government to address, and potential solution to make it better. We won't be able to get to everyone's reports today, but we will begin them today and hopefully we'll be finished by Wednesday so we can take our quiz." All the students groaned at the mention of a quiz. "Ok, is there anyone that would like to start off?"

Dick looked around and saw that everyone was staying completely still. "I'll go, Miss Selma," Dick said as he raised his hand.

Miss Selma smiled. "Thank you, Richard. You can bring all your notes up and begin when you're ready." Dick nodded, gathered his notes, and walked to the front of the class. "I'm very eager to hear your report," Miss Selma told him when he got up to the front. She then walked around and sat down at her desk.

"The problem that I have decided to address is the one about local graduations," Dick began. "Gotham Academy is not the only school in Gotham, plus the fact that there are many small towns near Gotham that have high schools as well. We all have friends from these other schools, and some parents have children in different schools as well, and the one problem that we face is the fact that graduations for these schools are on the same day, at the same time. Graduations are a time to celebrate an accomplishment in your life with friends and families, but because schools have graduations at the same time, these friends and families have to chose one graduation over the other making whoever they do not go see feel like they are not as important as the one they do go see. I say that the local government needs to address this problem and fix it."

Dick heard a lot of the students agreeing with him, and it was getting louder in the room. "Quiet!" Miss Selma said sternly to the students. Everyone got quiet again and was paying attention to Dick once again.

"Now there are steps that we can follow to help solve this problem. The first and second I have already done which is identify the problem and then do research so that I could learn more about it. As a group we could contact whoever would be in charge of taking care of the problem, so in this case it would be the school boards or the school's superintendent in each of the towns. After that we need to find a way to get others involved, as well as find other people that already agree with us. The last few are very important, making sure we give ourselves enough time, have the money we need, and find ways to support our goal, either through the news to help us get the word out, or just other groups that agree with us for support. We could even try to find a friend on the board of education that could help us persuade the others. Once we get the outcome of our efforts, we can either celebrate or try to figure out where we need to improve."

Dick looked down at his notes then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  _'Ok, stay calm and just follow the notes.'_  "We learned in chapters two and three that our country found a way to live in peace and understanding through the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. By sitting down and discussing things, the leaders of our country came to an agreement on how the country should be run. It would be the same if the boards of education from each of the schools in the area do the same and come up with some way to have graduations at different times so that friends can have lasting friendships and families can remain close."

Dick quickly glanced at his notes then continued. "This also brings us to who we should bring this problem to. Chapter 4 talks about the different branches that our government has. Our politicians go to these different branches to get different bills and laws passed, and our local governments basically have the same thing. We may not have different branches, but we do have people that we can go to. As I mentioned before, the boards of education would be the best people to speak with about this because they are basically the heads of the school, or the people who decide what happens at a school, but we could also talk to the town mayors about it as well. Town mayors are supposed to hear the people's concerns and try to take care of them, so even if we can't get the board of education to hear us out, the mayor would at least get them to consider it. Plus, going to either one of these people is a good option because both of them can go to other school boards or other town mayors and ask for a meeting to talk about it."

"But what if we can't talk to the mayor or go to the board of education directly?" Tucker asked.

"Well, if we can't get to them, there is always the superintendent. The superintendent is pretty much the president of the school."

"What do you mean by that?" Miss Selma asked.

Dick turned slightly so he was facing Miss Selma, but also making sure his back wasn't to the other students. "In my mind I see the school as a form of government. We students are the citizens, the teachers are the congressmen, the principal is the Vice-President, the superintendent is the President, and the board of education is congress." Miss Selma nodded in understanding and Dick turned back toward the students. "So if we go to the superintendent and try to persuade him or her by showing them the evidence that we've already gathered and trying to make them see things our way, they could go to the board of education and they might be more inclined to listen to them."

"After we get the boards of education's attention, then we need to go out and find people to support us, or to put it another way, find our allies. I believe that some of our allies concerning the graduation problem would be parents, grandparents, friends, students, teachers, and principals. Many people may think that teachers and principals don't really count when it comes to graduations, but they may have friends graduating or past students that may have transferred schools and they promised to come to their graduation. Finding all the people we can, will help us in more ways than one. If we take polls on who wants to change graduation times and who doesn't, we can see who our supporters are and gain information that can help us win an argument with the board of education. I think that if I started a petition to change the times of the graduations, our allies would sign it and have our back the whole way. Then if I took the petition to the board of education, they would see how many people have a problem with this and want to do something to make people happier with the way the school is run."

"Why don't you start one?" Barbra asked.

Dick looked at her a little surprised then blushed a little from embarrassment and rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh… actually I… I didn't really think about it 'til now." Several of the girls giggled at his reaction.

Dick looked down at his notes.  _'Thanks a lot, Babs.'_  "So, anyway, we have our research and know who to go to and who we can depend on. The next big thing is time and money. It takes time and money to do a lot of projects, and trying to convince someone to change something is a pretty big project. When trying to convince someone to change something, usually you have to have it done in a certain amount of time. If you don't, you will have to start all over and everything you've done so far has been a waste. The board of education is busy with everything the school has to do and doesn't have the time to waste on someone who doesn't have everything ready, which is why research and getting out there to find help is a big part."

"But you said money was a big part too," Miss Selma said.

Dick looked back at her then back to the students. "Yes, money is also a big part of it because if we want the support we have to advertise and get the word out somehow. Media is a great way to get our information out; we learned that in chapter twelve. Newspapers love a good story and so do reporters. Everyone knows the media is everywhere these days, and a lot of people try to convince people to choose their side or try something buy buying commercial space on channels. It may cost money to put an ad in the paper or on the TV, but people watch it, read it, and listen."

"If we can effectively convince the board of education to change the time of graduations for each school, and even if we can't, we must remember to always thank them for listening to us. We don't want to be rude about our problem or they may not want to even consider what we have to say. Also, we'll have to be cautious even if we do win. We don't want our victory to become the exact opposite of what we were aiming for. If we don't end up winning, we need to try and figure out where we need to improve our argument. Maybe we didn't get enough supporting evidence to convince them, or maybe there was something we overlooked that they thought of to keep it the same. We need to rethink our strategy and try again. Just because we didn't succeed this time doesn't mean we shouldn't try again. Just like the expression says, 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again.'"

Dick smiled then headed back to his seat while everyone started clapping. "Very good, Dick. Now, who would like to go next?"

Dick got back to his seat and looked back at Barbra. Barbra leaned forward. "Nice report."

"Thanks," Dick replied with a smile.

"So, you gonna do that petition?" Barbra then asked as the next student began their report.

Dick opened his notebook and wrote at the top of the page, "GRADUATION PETITION." He then raised it up to show her. "There. Happy?"

Barbra smiled and ripped it out of his hand then sat it down on her desk and signed her name to it. After that she handed it back to him. "That's one down. Now we just have to get our allies to sign it."

"How about you come over and we can figure out who else we can get to sign it," Dick said as he took it back from her.

"Well, make sure you get the rest of the class to sign it before you leave, and make sure to ask the students and teachers of your other classes, too. We can work on the others after school," Barbra said.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

**Six Months Later**

Dick saw Barbra walking up the stairs to the front of the school and ran up to her. "Hey, Babs!"

"Oh, hey, Dick. So did you hear?" Barbra asked when he caught up to her.

"Yeah, it worked," Dick replied happily. "I took the petition to the board of education and proposed the change for the times of the graduations. It took a while, but they finally made their decision. Now I can go see Wally and Artemis graduate even though they go to completely different schools."

"Hello Dick, Barbra. I heard that you and the other students convinced the boards of education from the different schools to change the times of the graduations," Miss Selma said.

"Yeah, and I think a lot of people are happy that we did," Dick replied.

"So what do you think helped you the most?" Miss Selma asked.

"I think that getting all the signatures and finding other people that supported our goal was the main factor that helped us to win this battle," Dick replied.

"Yeah, Bethanie and Tucker put together the little protest that we had out in front of the school this summer. It got so big after a few days because the news got a hold of the story. Some of the students from the towns around Gotham even came to help. Soon even the bigger cities heard about it," Barbra said.

"How do you know that?" Miss Selma asked.

"Clark Kent is a reporter for the  _Daily Planet_  in Metropolis, and he and Bruce are really good friends. Clark came over to do a story on it for his paper. He said he was really impressed with how much we were putting into it," Dick said proudly.

"Wow," Miss Selma said in amazement. "I'm really proud of all of you. You worked so hard and accomplished your goal."

"Yeah, and if there are any other kinds of projects like this, I would definitely make sure to find good supporters that is willing to help you complete the goal," Dick said.

"Well, I've got some work to do before class starts," Miss Selma said.

"Bye, Miss Selma. See you third period," Barbra said as she and Dick walked off down the hall. She then looked over at Dick and saw a big grin on his face. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Dick replied. "I'm just glad everything worked out like it did."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there you go. How'd you like it?
> 
> Robin: *leaning back in the chair* It was ok.
> 
> Me: ... That's all you have to say? *to readers* Well, what do you guys think?
> 
> Robin: Just leave your comment below and tell her.
> 
> Me: ...
> 
> Robin: Please or she won't stop. *to RNC* Alright, alright, I'm sorry. It wasn't that bad.
> 
> Me: *smiling* Thanks, Rob.


	5. Crushed On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hello everybody.
> 
> Robin: Yeah, yeah. So what's this one about.
> 
> Me: Well, Dick is babysitting for some extra cash and the little girl he babysits gets a crush on him after a certain incident.
> 
> Robin: What incident? What did you do to me?!
> 
> Me: Calm down, and I'm not telling. You know the drill.
> 
> Robin: Yeah, I know, read and find out.
> 
> Me: Yep. Well as usual, I don't own anything but a plot idea... Well, my spin on the plot... You know what I mean. I don't own YJ. I don't own Robin. I don't own Batman or anything like that.
> 
> Robin: We get it. Just be quiet already.
> 
> Me: ...
> 
> Robin: Thank you.
> 
> Me: *whispers* Enjoy.

Dick sat in the living room playing his newest game that Bruce got for him, when Bruce walked in. "Have you been on that all day?" Bruce asked.

Alfred heard the front door close and walked in to great the newcomer when he heard Bruce's question. "Since you left, Master Bruce."

Bruce shook his head. "Well if you didn't want me playin' it, you shouldn't have got it for me," Dick said happily. He then saved the game and turned it off. "So how was the meeting?"

"Long and tiring," Bruce said as he walked around the couch and sat down. "But we got a lot accomplished. If we stay on schedule, we should have the new project done in a few months."

"What is the new project?" Dick asked curiously.

Bruce smiled. "Sorry, Dick, I can't tell you that."

Dick scrunched is face up in disappointment. "Why not?"

"Just don't worry about it. Oh, Dick, I met one of my old friends for lunch today and they were wondering if you would want to make a few bucks? You remember Mr. Walts right?" Bruce said trying to change the subject.

Dick's eyes went wide. "A job?"

"Yeah, I think you're old enough for this kind of job, but only if you want to do it."

"What kind of job is it?"

"Well, he has a five year old daughter, and both parents are gonna be busy for a few days with preparations for moving. In fact, I think he said it may be a week or two."

"Babysitting?" Dick asked not to happy with the idea.

"Yes, but if you don't want to then you don't have to. Although they did say they would pay you fifty dollars a day."

Bruce chuckled when he saw Dick's eyes go wide again. "Fifty bucks!"

"Yeah," Bruce confirmed.

"We are talking about one of Master Bruce's friends, Master Dick, and most of his friends are rich," Alfred said.

"I almost told him that you're not really into babysitting, but then I remembered that game you wanted. I told you that if you wanted it that you would have to get it yourself. Just because I'm rich doesn't mean you'll get everything you want through me," Bruce said.

"I know," Dick said then looked down in thought. "So if I babysit this kid for two weeks…"

"Monday through Friday," Bruce interrupted. "They did say they were going to spend family time on Saturdays and Sundays."

"Ok. So if I babysit five days for two weeks, then that's…" he stopped to calculate the total. "That's five hundred bucks!"

Bruce smiled. "Yep, and you could get that game and some of those figures to go with it."

"I wouldn't only be able to get one, I could get all three. Yeah!" Dick exclaimed as he fist pumped the air.

"Bruce laughed. "So I take it you'll take the job?"

"Yeah, how hard can babysitting a five year old be?" Dick said happily.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

Dick started babysitting the next Monday. He went over right after school and was now standing in front of the big wooden door. He was expecting the house to be a big mansion like Bruce's, but it turned out to be just a big two story house.

He knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. When the door opened a women about thirty-five appeared. "Yes?"

"Hi, my name is Richard Grayson. I'm Bruce Wayne's son," Dick replied.

"Ah, yes, my husband said you would be coming. My name is Sherrel. Come in, come in," she replied happily and stepped aside so Dick could enter. Once she closed the door, she guided him to the kitchen. "Lilly's having a snack right now, so she won't be hungry until around six or seven."

Dick nodded and they walked into the kitchen. A little blond haired girl was sitting at the table eating some apple slices and grapes.

"We probably won't be back until around nine, nine-thirty so you'll be expected to feed her, make sure she gets her bath, and get her to bed. She needs to be in bed by nine, and for her bath, all you need to do is just fill up the tub, move the soup and shampoo down for her to reach, and get a washcloth and towel."

Dick sighed. "So I don't have to be in there to get her the bath."

Sherrel laughed when she turned around and saw Dick's red face. "No, she's pretty good at taking care of that. Although you may have to knock on the door and tell her to hurry up; she tends to spend longer than needed in there."

"Ok, I think I can handle that. What about food?"

"There are frozen pizzas in the freezer as well as meat, cheese, bread, and chips. Snacks are in this cabinet," she said as she opened one, then moved to the one next to it, "and plates and cups are here." She then moved to one of the drawers near the sink. "Here is the silverware, and there is milk and soda in the fridge and of course there's water from the sink."

Dick nodded. "What about a way to get a hold of you if I have a question or if something comes up?"

"You have a cellphone?" Sherrel asked.

"Yeah," Dick replied then pulled it out of his pocket.

Sherrel took the phone and started punching in numbers. "I'll save both mine and my husband's cell numbers in your phone just in case."

"Thank you."

Once she was finished, she handed the phone back to Dick then went over to Lilly. "Lilly, this is Richard Grayson. He's gonna be your babysitter for a few days."

Lilly looked up at him and smiled. "Hello."

"Hi," Dick said and reached out his hand to shake hers. Lilly just giggled and took his hand. "You can call me Dick if you want."

"Ok," Lilly replied as she let go of his hand and continued eating her snack.

"Jered won't be home for a few more minutes, so I'll show you around the house."

"Ok," he said as he followed her.

They started in the living room, showing him what movies she could watch and how to work the TV. After that she showed him to the bathroom and where everything was in there, then finally to Lilly's room, which was on the second floor, and where her PJ's were.

"That should be everything you need to know," Sherrel said as they went back down stairs in time to meet Jered as he walked in the door.

When Jered laid his eyes on Dick, he smiled. "Ah, good you're here. Did my wife show you everything?"

"Yes, Sir," Dick replied.

"Good. You'll be fine then." He then turned to Sherrel. "I'm gonna head upstairs, change, and then we'll head out."

"Ok," she replied then turned back to Dick. "Do you want me to get you a snack before we leave?"

Dick shook his head. "No, I'll just wait until I eat supper with Lilly."

"Ok." They then went back into the kitchen.

It was fifteen minutes before Jered came back down and the two headed to the door. "Now, Lilly," Sherrel began, "you be good for Dick, ok?"

"Yes, Mama," Lilly replied then gave her mom a hug.

"Thanks again, Dick, for doing this," Jered said.

"No problem," Dick replied with a smile.

Once both of them left Dick turned to Lilly. "So, what do you want to do?"

Lilly smiled and grabbed Dick's hand. "Come on," she said as she began dragging him toward the living room then to the stairs.

They went all the way to Lilly's room and over to the chest. She then let go of Dick's hand, opened the chest, and pulled out a dress. "Here."

"What, you want help putting it on?" Dick asked slightly confused.

"No, this is your dress," she said as Dick took the dress from her.

"What? No, I don't wear dresses, Lilly. I'm a guy."

After a few minutes, Dick was sitting at the small table in Lilly's room wearing the dress and a tiara. "Would you like some more tea Princess Tootles?"

"Sure," Dick said not to happy. Lilly glared at him and stomped her foot. "I… uh…" Dick cleared his throat. "I mean yes," he said in a girly voice.  _'Why did I ever agree to this.'_

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

The next day, Dick sat in the cafeteria looking distraught. "Hey, Dick," Barbra said cheerfully as she sat down across from him.

"Hey, Babs," Dick replied not to happy.

"Everything ok?" she wondered.

"I don't know."

Barbra remained quiet for him to explain, but he never did. "Ok? You gonna tell me what's buggin' ya?"

Dick gave a big sigh. "Well, I started babysitting this five year old for one of Bruce's friends and well…"

"It didn't go like you hoped?" she finished for him.

"No."

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Girl."

Barbra looked down and tried to think of what a little five year old girl would do to make Dick feel this way. "Ok, I give. What did she do to you?"

Dick's face got a little red and he leaned in closer to her. She leaned in closer too. "She dressed me up in a dress and called me Princess Tootles," Dick whispered.

Barbra sat back stunned for a moment then busted up laughing. Other kids that were in the cafeteria all looked over at them and Dick's face got even reader. "Babs," he said begged quietly.

"I'm sorry," she said still laughing, "I just wish I could've seen you in a dress and acting like a girl."

"Not so loud," Dick said as he looked around to make sure no one heard her. He sighed in relief when he realized no one heard her. "Look, you've babysat before. How do I get her to play something else?"

Barbra smiled. "Dick, you're the older one. Just try to come up with another game. You're new to this and I think she realizes that, so she's testing you. If you continue to let her dress you up like that, she'll do it to you all the time."

"What would you suggest?" he asked desperately.

"Well, there's hide and seek, tag, coloring, movies, the park…"

"You think they'll let me take her to the park?" Dick interrupted.

"I don't see why not, although you might want to ask them first."

Dick smiled. "Thanks, Babs," he said then got up and started to walk away.

"Hey, where you goin'?" she asked confused.

Dick stopped and turned to look at her. "I've got some homework from my first half of classes and I don't really feel like doing it while babysitting. I'll talk to you later," he said then turned back around and continued walking.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

The next few days went by a lot better for Dick. He convinced her to not dress him up like a princess, but if she did want to play dress up that he would be her prince. Lilly actually seemed to like that a lot better anyway. They also played tag, hide and seek, and even went to the park. Now Dick was glad that it was nine and Lilly was in bed.

Dick sat on the couch and took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Man, five year olds sure do have a lot of energy."

Dick opened his eyes and turned on the TV to find something to watch. As soon as he found something to watch, his cell went off. "Hello?"

 _"Hey, Dick, how's it going tonight?"_  Bruce asked.

"Fine. I'm a little wore out though."

Bruce chuckled.  _"That's what happens when you watch a young kid."_

"Was I that bad?" Dick asked curious.

_"Thankfully, no. You were still shy from just moving in with a total stranger. Although I learned pretty fast not to let you have too much sugar."_

Dick smiled. "Oh, Mr. Walts told me that they wouldn't be back until ten tonight, so I'll be getting home later than usual."

_"Alright, thanks for letting me know."_

Dick heard a slight scratching noise, but brushed it off as a noise on the TV. "Hey, tomorrow's Saturday and I don't have to babysit. Do you have a meeting?"

_"No, the only way I would is if we have an emergency."_

The scratching noise was still there even after he turned it down. He narrowed his eyes and turned off the TV. The scratching was still there.

 _"Was there something you wanted to do?"_  Dick remained quiet.  _"Dick?"_

Dick got up off the couch and walked out of the living room and into the hall where the front door is.

 _"Dick, is everything alright?"_  Bruce asked getting concerned.

"Quiet for a sec," Dick said quietly. He then lowered his phone away from his ear.

The scratching got louder the closer he got to the door. When he put his ear up to the door and listened, he heard slight curses coming from the other side.  _"Ah, forget it,"_  the voice said louder.

Dick's eyes got wider and he tried to jump back, but the man behind the door kicked the door open faster than Dick could move. "Crap," Dick said then flew back toward the wall across from the door.

 _"Dick? Dick?!"_  Bruce yelled as the phone flew out of Dick's hand and slid across the floor. Dick smacked into the wall and he had blood trickling down his face from where the door bashed into him and a headache forming because of the wall.

The intruder stood stunned when he saw the boy sitting against the wall. "What the… Who the heck are you?"

Dick shook his head to clear his vision and stood up, nearly falling a couple times. "I'm Dick, and you're not welcome here," he said then ran toward the intruder.

The intruder managed to dodge the punch Dick threw at him and managed to elbow Dick in the back causing the boy to fall to the ground in pain. "I thought this house was empty."

Dick turned over and used both feet and bashed them into the intruders knees causing the intruder to stumble back and fall in pain. "Aghh! You little brat!" the man said then stood up.

_'Dang it. My kick wasn't strong enough.'_

The intruder laughed when he saw the anger in Dick's eyes. "What, you surprised I got up after that? You missed my knees kid. All you did was hit my lower calves, which still hurt by the way."

Dick rolled away from the intruders incoming stomp and jumped dizzily to his feet.  _'Dang it, I'm dizzy from those blows to the head.'_

"Dick?" a small voice called out.

Dick turned to Lilly who was standing in the doorway of the living room. "Lilly, run!"

Lilly's eyes went wide and tears began to well up. "Dick?" she asked fearfully.

"Well, well, well. I guess this won't be a total lose now," the intruder said as he walked toward Lilly.

"Lilly, Run!" Dick yelled louder then pushed the dizziness aside and ran at the intruder.

Lilly screamed at the top of her lungs when the intruder got closer, which cause him to cover his ears and back up, and Dick ran past him, grabbed Lilly, and ran into the living room.

The intruder was not happy at all. "Get back here you little brats!" he yelled as he chased after them.

Lilly was crying and Dick was stumbling over his feet but he managed to make out the back door.  _'Dang it, I can't keep this up much longer.'_

Dick heard a loud noise and something brush past his face, causing a cut to appear. "What the…" Dick glanced back and saw that the man now had a gun pointed right at them. "Oh this is turning out to be great," he said sarcastically.

"Dick, I'm scared," Lilly said.

Dick looked down at Lilly then back up to notice the giant fence. He was running way too fast to stop in time, so he jumped and did a flip and landed. He then fell back against the fence.  _'Ok, doing flips when I'm already dizzy, not a good idea.'_

The intruder walked up to them, gun still pointed at them, then stopped a few feet from them. "Hand over the girl and I might let you live boy."

Lilly hid her face in Dick's neck and let out a whine. Dick looked down at her then looked up and glared at the man. "Never!"

The man narrowed his eyes. "Then I'll just kill you and take the girl."

Lilly's arms got tighter around Dick's neck and Dick in turn did the same around her. "Don't worry, Lilly," he whispered to her, "I promise, I won't let anything happen to you." He then focused on the man in front of them and put Lilly on the ground and pushed her behind him.

The intruder laughed. "You really think that's gonna save her?" He then started walking toward them again.

 _'Ok, just a little closer,'_  he thought as he stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled something out and clutched it in his fist.

Lilly grabbed a hold of Dick's pant leg and clutched it tight. "Dick?" Lilly asked as she looked up at him afraid, but when she saw how determined and calm Dick was, she relaxed a little.  _'Dick's not afraid of this bad man.'_

Once the man got within one foot of them, Dick threw the thing he had in his hand at the man's face, grabbed Lilly again, jumped up and did a flip over the man's now ducked head, and when he hit the ground again, began running for the front of the house.

As he rounded the corner to the front of the house, Dick heard sirens and saw red and blue lights coming toward them.  _'Bruce must have called the cops when I didn't answer, but why didn't he just come as Batman?'_

The police cars slid to a stop in front of the house and Dick ran toward Gordon who was just getting out of his car. "Commissioner, there's a burglar right behind us!" Sure enough, the intruder came around the corner as soon as he said it.

"Freeze!" Gordon said as he and the other police raised their guns and pointed them at the man. Dick got behind Gordon's car and sat down on the ground with Lilly in his lap and still holding on to him tightly.

The other cops quickly captured and handcuffed the intruder and were escorting him to one of the squad cars.

"Dick!" Bruce yelled as he jumped out of his car and ran toward him.

Dick looked up groggily, but only saw a blur of dark colors coming toward him.

"Lilly!" Sherrel yelled as she and Jered also ran toward them.

"B-Bruce," Dick managed to get out before the dizziness and blackness took over completely and he fell to the ground unconscious.

"Dick? Dick?!" Lilly yelled shaking him. "Wake up. Wake up!"

Sherrel pulled Lilly off of Dick as Bruce and Gordon got down beside Dick. "I need an ambulance at my location immediately," Gordon called over his radio.

Lilly was screaming and fighting to get away from her mother and back over to Dick. "No, I want Dick! Let me go! I want Dick! DICK!"

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

Dick woke up in a hospital room. He blinked a few times to clear his vision then looked around. Bruce was standing in the doorway of the room talking to what looked like Jered. He then looked on the other side of the bed and saw Lilly sitting on her mom's lap but laying on the bed sleeping.

"Oh, Dick, thank goodness," Sherrel said.

Bruce and Jered both looked over at Dick then Jered left the room to go find the doctor and Bruce walked over to the bed. "Dick, how are you feeling?"

"Like an elephant sat on my head," Dick joked.

Bruce and Sherrel smiled. "The doctor said you had a slight concussion that got even worse when you moved around like you did," Bruce explained.

"Lilly said that you did flips and ran fast while protecting her," Sherrel said. "Dick, words can't even explain how grateful I am to you for keeping my little girl safe."

Dick gave a weak smile. "No problem."

Jered and the doctor walked into the room. The doctor did a few things to check Dick out then smiled. "Well, everything looks ok. That cut on your forehead wasn't as bad as it could've been, but I'm gonna need you to stay the night because of that slight concussion you got."

"Thank you," Bruce said. The doctor nodded then headed for the door.

"You got any aspirin for this headache?" Dick asked.

The doctor turned back toward him. "I'll have a nurse bring something in for you." He then continued out the door.

"Lilly, sweetie, Dick's awake," Sherrel told her daughter.

Lilly stirred and sat up and stared at Dick. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Dick assured her.

Lilly smiled. "Thank you for keeping your promise."

Dick just smiled. "Well that's what a prince does, right? He keeps his promises to his princess."

Sherrel, Jered, and Bruce all smiled at the exchange of words.

A nurse walked in with a small cup with a couple of pills in it and a glass of water and brought them over to Dick. "Thanks," Dick said as he took the two cups. He then popped the pills in his mouth and drank down the water.

"If you need anything else, just let us know," the nurse said as she took the two empty cups and left the room.

"We will. Thank you," Bruce replied.

"Well, it's almost midnight," Jered said. "We should get going so we can get Lilly to bed."

Sherrel stood up with Lilly in her hands. "NO!" Lilly screamed.

"Lilly, don't scream. We're in a hospital," Sherrel said sternly.

"No, I want to stay with Dick," Lilly said as she squirmed in her mother's grip.

"No, you have to go home and sleep," Sherrel tried to tell her.

"No, I want to stay!"

"Lilly, Dick needs his rest too," Bruce said. "He'll sleep a lot better if there wasn't anyone else in the room."

A tear fell from her eye. "But you get to stay."

"I'm gonna head home too," Bruce said standing up. He then turned to Dick. "I'll be back in the morning."

Dick nodded. "Ok, night, Bruce."

Bruce leaned down and kissed Dick's forehead. "Good night, Dick."

Sherrel began walking away from Dick's bed, Lilly still in her arms. "No," Lilly said.

"Lilly…"

"Hug," Lilly said as she held out her hands toward Dick.

Sherrel blinked then looked toward Bruce. She then carried Lilly over to Dick and Lilly gave Dick a hug. "Night, Lilly," Dick said.

"Night, Prince," Lilly replied back.

Everyone smiled and Lilly finally let her mother carry her out of the room.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

At noon the next day, Bruce brought Dick back to the manor. "Now the doctor said that you need to take it easy for the next few days," Bruce said as he and Dick walked into the living room.

"I know. I'll probably try to beat that game you got me."

"Sir, there is a call for you," Alfred said as he walked into the room. "And it is very nice to have you back safe and sound, Master Dick."

"Thanks, Al," Dick said with a smile as he turned on his game.

Bruce went to the phone. "Bruce speaking."

_"Bruce, it's Jered. How's Dick doing?"_

"Good. We just got him home. The doctor said he has to rest for a few days, but he should be fine."

_"That's good to hear. I'm sorry to bother you about this, but do you think Dick can still watch Lilly Monday? She's been asking for him since she got up this morning."_

"Well, I think it should be ok just as long as they don't do anything extreme, but the real deciding factor will be how Dick is feeling."

_"I understand. Just let me know. I'll let Lilly know that if might, but if he does then they can't do anything too rough."_

"I just hope she understands that."

_"Oh she will. She's usually very good about that sort of thing. Well I'll talk to you later then. Tell Dick we said hi."_

"I will. Goodbye."

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

Monday afternoon, Dick sat in the cafeteria across from Barbra. "So you feeling any better?" Barbra asked.

"Yeah, my heads still a little sore, but that's to be expected when you get a cut and blow to the head like I did."

Barbra smiled. "Yeah. So you babysitting Lilly tonight?" she asked then took a bite of her food.

"Yeah, Mr. Walts already told me that he would talk to Lilly about doing anything rough, so…"

"Rough?" Barbra asked clearly confused.

"Yeah, like running around or jumping, things like that," Dick replied then took a bite of his sandwich.

"Oh, ok. So what are you two gonna do?"

"We'll probably just watch movies or color or something."

"And how much are these guys paying you?" she asked then took a drink.

"Fifty a night." Barbra sprayed her drink all over the table, Dick, and his food. "Thanks, Babs," he said as he wiped his face off with his napkin then started to wipe the rest of the mess up. "So much for eating."

"Sorry," Barbra said as she help him clean up the mess. "Do you really get fifty dollars every time you babysit her?"

"Yeah, they're Bruce's friends so they're rich, although they don't act like they are."

"What do you mean?" she said as she put the soaked napkins on her tray and they both got up to through their stuff away.

"They've just got two story house and they don't have big flashy things in their house. They almost seem like a middle class family not a rich one."

"I see. So you've already babysat for five days, so that's two hundred fifty, and you're babysitting how much longer?"

"'Til Friday. They're moving Saturday."

"Oh, ok. So you're going to have five hundred by the time you're done," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yep, and I'm gonna buy those Skylanders games."

"Really? Cool," she said. "I'll so come over and play with you."

"Alright," Dick said with a smile. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Babs."

"See ya, and have fun with Lilly tonight," she said as he walked off in the opposite direction.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

Dick walked into the Walts' house behind Jered and into the living room. "Dick!" Lilly exclaimed as she ran up to him.

Jered stepped in front of Dick not looking too happy. "Now what did I tell you, Lilly. Dick has to take it easy so you can jump on him."

Lilly looked down at her feet like she was about to cry.

"It's ok Mr. Walts," Dick said as he walked around him. He then knelt down in front of Lilly.

Lilly smiled and carefully put her arms around Dick's neck and gave him a big hug. "I'm glad you're ok."

Dick pulled away from her then both he and Lilly walked over to the couch and sat down. "Me too. So I figured we'd watch movies or color tonight. Is that ok with you?"

Lilly just nodded and curled up to Dick. Dick just smiled and put his arm around her.

"Well, it looks like you've got everything under control, so I'll just get Sherrel and we'll head out. We should only be out 'til nine tonight."

"Ok, have fun," Dick said as he watched the show that was playing on the TV.

Later that night, after Lilly had her bath, Dick let Lilly watch a movie until it was time for bed. She had fallen asleep halfway through it, so Dick decided to take her on up to bed. When he turned off the light in her room, closed the door, and came back downstairs and sat on the couch, he found a show playing on the TV and settled in to it.

"Dick, can I sleep with you?" Lilly asked.

Dick turned to look at her. "I thought you were already asleep?"

Lilly just walked over to him and sat down next to him and curled up next to him. "I want to sleep with you. Please?"

Dick looked down at her.  _'She was already asleep, so why did she wake up just to come down here?'_  "Alright, but you have to sleep. If you don't you have to go back up to your room, ok?"

Lilly nodded then laid her head on Dick's lap. Dick pulled the blanket that was on the back of the couch over top of her.  _'Oh well. It's only eight-thirty anyway. They said she could stay up 'til nine, so if she's not asleep it's no big deal.'_

At five after nine, Jered and Sherrel walked in the door and saw Dick watching TV. "Was she good for you tonight?" Jered asked as he walked into the living room, then he saw Lilly sleeping on the couch. "Why didn't you just put her in her room?"

"I did, but she just came back down and asked to sleep in here with me. Maybe she's still shaken up about the other night," Dick replied.

"She didn't do this Saturday or last night," Sherrel said.

"Who knows," Jered said as he picked Lilly up.

Dick got up from the couch and headed to the door with Sherrel. "Thank you again, Dick, and see you tomorrow."

"Night," Dick replied then walked out the door.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

The next few nights were pretty much the same, Lilly would stick close to Dick and each time he put her in her room for the night, she would get up and ask to sleep with him on the couch. Now they were at the park and Dick was pushing Lilly on the swing.

"Hey, Dick," Barbra called out.

"Hey, Babs," Dick called back as he stopped pushing Lilly and walked over to her.

Lilly realized that he left her, jumped off the swing, and ran over to him and grabbed his hand. Dick and Barbra just looked at her, but she just stood there quiet. "She's been like this since the break-in Friday," Dick said.

"I'm sure it's just that she's scared from the break-in. She's probably doing it with her parents too," Barbra said as all three of them walked over to the nearby bench and sat down.

"No, she only does it around me. Her parents say that she's fine when it's anyone else."

Barbra looked at Lilly and in response Lilly just got closer to Dick. Barbra smiled. "I think someone's got a crush on you, Dick."

"Huh," he asked confused. He looked down at Lilly then back at Barbra. "You think?"

"Well it makes sense. She only acts like this round you, always wants to be near you, and I bet she's even called for you when you're not around, right?" Barbra said.

"Yeah, her dad told Bruce that she was asking for me Saturday after she woke up, and Sunday we got a call from her personally.

"Really?" Barbra asked with a smile.

"Yeah. Evidentially her parents didn't know about the call and they kept apologizing for it." Dick thought about it for a moment. "Now that you mention it, it does sound like that's the case." Dick snapped his fingers. "Oh, and the other day we were doing something and she asked me if I would marry her."

Barbra laughed. "You said yes, didn't you."

Dick rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, but I thought she was just playing, you know, like when we played tea party and I was the handsome prince."

Barbra got up and knelt down in front of Lilly who was trying to hide her face. "Lilly, do you like Dick?"

Lilly nodded. "He said he'd marry me."

Barbra smiled at her. "Sweetie, you and Dick aren't old enough to get married yet. He'll always be your friend, but…"

"No, Dick mine!" Lilly blurted out as she tightened her grip on his arm and buried her face in his arm starting to cry.

"I see. Well there's a little problem with your plan," Barbra said. Lilly looked up at her but didn't let go of Dick's arm. "You and your parents are leaving Gotham tomorrow and Dick can't go with you."

"No, I stay with Dick," she said.

"You have to go with your parents," Barbra tried to tell her.

"No, I stay with Dick!" she yelled louder.

"Babs, I don't think that's working."

Barbra stood up. "Well, it looks like you and her parents are on your own then. It's starting to get dark. You should probably get her home."

"Yeah," he replied standing up along with Lilly who was still attached to his arm. "It's almost suppertime anyway. Talk to you later."

"Bye, Dick. Bye, Lilly," she said as she waved.

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

"Hey, Dick, we're home," Sherrel said.

"She sleeping in here with you again?" Jered asked, but got his answer when they walked up to the couch.

"Yeah. I tried to get her to sleep her room, but she just came back down here."

Jered picked up his daughter, but this time she woke up. "Hey, Sweetie," Sherrel said when she saw her daughter look around.

"No," Lilly said then squirmed until she was put down. She then crawled on Dick's lap and clung to him.

"Dick has to go home, Lilly," Jered said as he tried to pick her up again.

"No!" she yelled and slapped her father's hands away.

Sherrel and Jered looked at each other then down at Dick. "Me and my friend Barbra think she has a crush on me, although I can't figure out why, but we think that might be why she's been acting like this. When we told her that she would be leaving tomorrow and that I wouldn't be going with her, she said she was gonna stay here with me."

Sherrel walked around the couch and sat down. "Sweetie," she said as she pushed some hair out of Lilly's face, "we're going to move to a bigger town. You'll make lots of new friends there."

"No, I stay with Dick," Lilly said.

"Maybe Bruce will let Dick come and visit sometime," Jered said.

"No, I stay with Dick!" Lilly yelled.

"I'll come by tomorrow before you leave," Dick said.

"Promise?" Lilly asked hopefully.

"Promise, and you know a prince always keeps his promises to his princess," Dick said with a smile.

Lilly smiled and laid her head on his chest. Dick stood up. "I'll take her to her room for you."

"You don't have to do that," Jered said.

"It's fine," he said then disappeared up the stairs.

"What are we gonna do, Jered? She's gonna be crushed when she has to leave and he stays here," Sherrel asked.

"I'm not sure. The only thing we can do is just get her in the car, let her cry, and hope she'll get over it," Jered said.

"I don't know, that doesn't sound like a good idea. I've heard about kids that don't get something they love very much and they are distant for a while."

"Yeah, but what else is there to do?"

They both sat on the couch thinking about it for a while until Dick came back down. Dick saw the look of deep thought on both their faces. "You guys ok?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't hear you come back down," Sherrel said.

"I just did. What's wrong?"

"We were just thinking how to make it easier for Lilly to leave tomorrow," Jered said.

"I think you're right about her liking you, Dick," Sherrel said. "I'm surprised I didn't pick up on it earlier."

"Hey, I didn't either, so don't feel too bad," Dick said.

"Yeah, but most guys don't," Sherrel said with a smile.

"True," Dick replied agreeing. "But don't worry. I think I have an idea that will make it easier for her to leave tomorrow," Dick said with a smile.

YJYJYJYJYJYJ

The next day, Jered and Sherrel finished packing and loading the rest of their stuff into the moving truck and their own car and were ready to head out. "Alright, Lilly, let's get in the car," Jered said.

"No, Dick's not here," Lilly said.

Just as Jered was going to argue with her and force her into the car, Bruce and Dick pulled up behind the moving truck. "Hey guys," Bruce called out when he stepped out of the car.

"Dick!" Lilly exclaimed as she ran up to Dick.

Dick smiled and spun her around. "Hey, Princess." He sat her back down and then Bruce, Dick, and Lilly all walked over to the car where Jered and Sherrel were standing.

"You ready to leave?" Bruce asked Jered and Sherrel.

"Yeah, but we'll miss all our friends here in Gotham," Sherrel said.

"Me stay with Dick," Lilly said as he clung to Dick's leg.

"Lilly, don't start that again," Jered said.

"It's ok. I told you I have a plan," Dick said.

"You never did tell us what that plan was," Sherrel said.

"I'll show you," Dick said then he unattached Lilly from his leg. "Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back," he told Lilly then ran off to Bruce's car.

When he came back he had a bird doll, a box, and princess and prince doll. "Dick, you didn't have to do that," Sherrel said as she looked at all the things he had.

"Don't worry about it," Dick told her then turned to Lilly. "Now, Lilly, you have to go with your parents, ok?"

"No, I stay with you," she replied beginning to cry.

"But I brought you going away gifts," he said sounding hurt.

"Going away gifts?"

"Yeah, they're gifts that someone gives someone when they're going away."

"If I don't take them, can I stay?" she asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. You see, I had to go away from someone I really loved too."

"You did?" Lilly asked. Jered and Sherrel just looked at Bruce sadly.

"Yeah. You see, when I was a little older than you, my parents went away. I wanted to go with them, but where they were going, they didn't want me to go."

"Where did they go?"

"They went up there," he said as he pointed to the sky.

"Did they give you a present?" Lilly asked.

"Yeah, only what they gave me wasn't something I could hold like these presents, but what they left me I cherish more than anything in the whole world, and I always know that they love me and are always with me."

"What did they give you?"

"Love. My parents loved me and that love stays with me always. The other thing they gave me was knowledge."

"Knowledge?"

"Yeah. You remember all those flips and stuff I did the night that man came into your house?" She nodded. "Well I learned most of those moves from them. They were acrobats in a circus and they trained me to be one too."

"Oh."

"Yeah, but what I have for you is something different. The first thing is these two dolls."

"It's a princess and a prince," she said happily.

"Yes, so that your princess will always have her prince. The second one is this."

Lilly took the box and Dick helped her open it. "Princess dress!"

"Well you are a princess, right," Dick said smiling. "Now this last one is sort of so you won't forget me."

"It's a birdie."

"Yes, it is a birdie. It's called a robin."

"Robin?" she asked him curiously.

"Yes, robin's are my favorite birds, and my mom use to think of me as a robin when she saw me flying through the air in the circus."

Lilly took the bird and hugged it then threw her arms around Dick. "I'll miss you."

Dick wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. "I'll miss you too, but now you'll always have a few things to remember me by," he said. Dick pulled away from her and smiled at her. "And I'll always remember you because of the pictures you drew me."

Lilly smiled then turned and ran to her mother. "Mommy look at the presets Dick got me."

"I see them. They're all beautiful." Dick stood back up and Sherrel just smiled at him. "Thank you, Dick, for everything."

Lilly smiled at Dick then turned and walked up to Bruce. Bruce knelt down so that he was eye level with her. "You let Dick come see me?"

Bruce smiled at her. "Of course I will."

Lilly smiled and gave Bruce a big hug. "Thank you." She then let go of him and ran back to her parents.

"Well, we're off," Jered said. Sherrel put Lilly in the car and made sure her dolls were right there with her.

"Drive carefully, Jered," Bruce said.

"I will," he replied as he shook Bruce's hand. He then got in the driver's seat and they headed off.

"So did you use some of the money they gave you to buy those gifts?" Bruce asked Dick as they walked back to the car.

"Yeah, actually they gave me fifty extra bucks for keeping Lilly safe during that break-in. I told them they didn't need to but they did it anyway."

"I see. So do you want to stop by the store so you can pick up your skylanders?"

"Yeah," Dick said happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, thoughts?
> 
> Robin: I'm not sure how I feel about having a five year old crush on me, and I kinda thought Babs was jealous.
> 
> Me: Well I had a little boy round five have a crush on me and I thought it was just adorable, so that's kinda where I got the idea. As for Barbra... I wasn't sure if I wanted her to be jealous or not, so I'll let you all decide.
> 
> Robin: Hey speaking of that, why not writer her a comment and tell her what you think about it.
> 
> Me: Please and thank you

**Author's Note:**

> *My grandpa really did serve in Vietnam and came back alive and is still alive today
> 
> *I loved this question
> 
> Me: Now see that wasn't so bad was it?
> 
> Robin: Are you kidding? I would never turn in a paper late! And I wouldn't just not do it! AND YOU GOT ME GROUNDED BECAUSE OF IT! You are an evil person.
> 
> Me: Hey, I'm not evil… well, not all the time :) There is one question I would like to ask you lovely fans?
> 
> Robin: Oh boy, now I'm scared.
> 
> Me: *to Robin* Will you calm down. *to fans* Do you think I should make this story into a bunch of one shots about his everyday life, or just leave it like it is.
> 
> Robin: I say just leave it like it is. *talking quieter* That way I know I'm safe.
> 
> Me: What?
> 
> Robin: Nothing. Uhhh, I think I hear Batman calling. *runs off*
> 
> Me: Ok. See ya. Please comment it would make my day


End file.
